Sunday’s Game Report: Cardinals 2, Marlins 1

By Rob Rains

One swing of the bat by Bryan Torres provided just enough offense for the Cardinals to defeat the Marlins on Sunday at Busch Stadium.

Torres, making only his third start since June 7, followed a single by Masyn Winn with his third homer of the year in the second inning and starter Kyle Leahy and the bullpen made it stand up for the victory.

The win snapped the Cardinals’ four-game losing streak and salvaged the final game of the series against the Marlins.

It was only the second home run by the Cardinals in their last nine games at home, the other coming from Jose Fermin on June 24.

The Cardinals scored a combined three runs in the series against the Marlins and had just 16 hits, 14 of which were singles, including their other five hits on Sunday.

Here is how Sunday’s game broke down:

At the plate: After Torres’ homer, the Cardinals were limited to just three hits the rest of the game. In the eighth, Nathan Church singled with one out and went to third on a single by Pedro Pages, but then was picked off … The team was hitless in three at-bats with a runner in scoring position and for the series was just 1-of-13 with a runner on second or third … JJ Wetherholt had two of the Cardinals’ six hits … Alec Burleson’s on-base streak ended after 25 games and Ivan Herrera’s on-base streak was snapped after 22 games.

On the mound: Kyle Leahy worked the first five innings, pitching around three walks but not allowing a hit through the first four innings … Back-to-back doubles in the fifth produced the only Miami run … JoJo Romero worked 1 1/3 scoreless innings and Ryne Stanek got a double play grounder to end the seventh before George Soriano and Riley O’Brien each worked an inning, protecting the one-run lead … O’Brien had a clean 1-2-3 ninth with a flyout, strikeout and groundout to earn his 20^th save.

Key stat: The Cardinals hit the halfway mark of the season with a 43-38 record. Last year they were 44-37 after 81 games but went 34-47 over the final 81 games of the season.

Worth noting: Torres had been limited to a total of six at-bats in the Cardinals’ 16 games since June 7 prior to Sunday … The win continued a streak of the Cardinals not having been swept by the Marlins in a three-game series since 1996 … It was only the third win of the season for the Cardinals in a game when they scored two runs. They beat the Mets 2-1 on April 1 and the Padres 2-1 on May 7 … Nolan Gorman hit his second home run for Memphis in a loss at Jacksonville.

Up next: The Cardinals have the day off on Monday before opening a three-game series on Tuesday night against the Braves in Atlanta. Matthew Liberatore is the scheduled starter.

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